


Sleepy

by MarriedPhan1234



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: M/M, Sleep Deprivation, Sleepy Time Tea, mild panic attack, parent!phan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-15
Updated: 2017-11-15
Packaged: 2019-02-02 19:47:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12733125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarriedPhan1234/pseuds/MarriedPhan1234
Summary: Dan and Phil's daughter Daisy doesn't sleep. Ever.





	Sleepy

Daisy Howell-Lester was a free spirited little girl. She had curly blonde hair and bright green eyes that her Papa Phil swears she got from his mum. She was wild and imaginative and everything that a three year old should be. If only she had a regular sleep pattern.  
Since the day they'd brought her home just over a year ago, she'd just go and go and go, sometimes until the wee hours of the morning. And while Dan and Phil were both somewhat used to staying up late, they were not used to waking up early as well. Phil can recall one night where she'd slept a full six hours straight, but they hadn't been that lucky in months.  
Every night was the same. At 7:30 they would begin their 'winding down' routine, as per the recommendation of Daisy's pediatrician, by putting her in a nice, warm bath with lavender baby bubble bath, followed by clean jammies and story time. And that's where the trouble began.  
Daisy would do anything she could think of to keep her daddies in the room with her. She would ask all about the story they were reading, then ask them to read another, then ask them to sing a song, then she was hungry again, and thirsty again, and needed to potty again, and all of her stuffies needed goodnight kisses, and then and then and then…  
And then she would cry because there was simply nothing she could do to avoid bedtime. They'd tried everything from lying with her in her tiny toddler bed until she fell asleep and then trying to sneak out to simply leaving the room and letting her cry herself to sleep, but neither of them could stand to do the latter. So, they'd inevitably started taking turns curling up to sleep in a tiny, cramped princess bed every night.   
“I know I'm the one who got to sleep last night and I really don't have any right to say this, but, God I hope she goes to sleep soon. I'm exhausted,” Dan said as he waited for the bath to fill with warm water. It was his turn to stay with Daisy tonight and if it weren't for the cuddles he would be getting, he would be dreading it.  
“I know what you mean. D'you know she was up until after midnight last night, and then woke up at 4am? And then she only took a forty minute nap. I don't know what we're going to do with that girl,” Phil said, running his hand through his hair.   
Dan could see the toll that the lack of sleep was having on him. His near constant under eye circles and stubbly chin, not to mention he hadn't bothered to dye his roots in months. “I wish you had told me, I would have stayed with you longer. I hate having to sleep without you,” Dan mumbled.  
“Oh, my mum gave me a basket with some Sleepy Time Tea in it! I'll go make her some now and put it in her cup. Can you handle bath time without me?” Phil asked.   
“Yeah, of course,” Dan said and turned off the tap.   
Phil slowly made his way to the kitchen and found the basket on the counter by the kettle. His mum had filled it with single serve teas and claimed that this stuff would knock her right out with no harsh chemicals or anything scary like that. He hastily grabbed a mug and a tea bag and waited for the kettle to heat up. He added milk and a few scoops of sugar, knowing that Daisy was a picky little girl and wouldn't want to drink anything that tasted strong, then waited a few minutes for it to cool before pouring it into a sippy cup.  
If his mum was right, and Katherine usually was, Daisy might actually go to sleep at a reasonable hour tonight. He crossed his fingers and walked back to the bathroom.  
**  
“Daddy, daddy! Jump with me!” Daisy screamed. She had been jumping on her bed and cackling like a maniac for the last half hour.  
“Phil, why the hell isn't she asleep yet? I thought Kath said it would knock her out, but it's nearly eleven o'clock!” Dan said, nearing his wits end.  
“I don't- I don't know. I made the tea, it was Sleepy Tea, I don't know what's happened!” Phil rambled. He wasn't making sense, but neither were his thoughts. He was so tired that he could barely fathom what was happening right now. He felt as though his nerves would snap at any moment.  
“Are you sure it was Sleepy Time Tea? Some tea has caffeine in it, ya know,” Dan said, reaching a hand out to catch Daisy who was apparently attempting to fly.  
Phil shook his head and mumbled something under his breath before leaving the room and heading back to the kitchen. Surely tea that was supposed to help you sleep wouldn't have caffeine in it? And his mother hadn't mentioned putting any other kinds of tea in the basket.   
He pulled the basket to him and rummaged through it. He was so exhausted, he had to make his eyes focus on what was in front of him, but finally he recognized that there were in fact multiple kinds of tea as well as single serve bags of coffee.  
“No, no, no,” Phil muttered and ran over to the bin. “No, no!” There in the bin was the empty package of single serve full caffeinated coffee.   
Phil fell to his knees and held his head in his hands. What had he done? Their child was never going to sleep now, and it was all his fault for not double checking the package! He heard Dan and a still cackling Daisy come in the kitchen.  
“Phil?” Dan asked cautiously. He set Daisy on down and she immediately ran off to the living room.  
“No, no,” Phil said, and only then did he notice he was crying. “S'coffe. I gave her coffee!”  
“What do you mean?” Dan pulled his hands from his face so that he could look at him.  
“I didn't know there was coffee in the basket. I gave our three year old coffee! And now she's never going to sleep again! Oh God,” Phil sobbed. Dan had never seen Phil so distraught and wasn't sure what to do, so he rubbed Phil's shoulders as soothingly as he could. “I didn't mean to. I didn't know. Dan, what if they take her away? They're going to take her away and I'm going to go to prison! I'm a terrible parent. I'm- I can't, I don't know what to do!” Phil continued to sob.  
“First of all, no one is taking her away. It was an accident, and you're not a terrible parent. Second, you need to go to bed. You're running yourself into the ground and you're at your breaking point,” Dan explained, and Phil couldn't help but listen. Usually, he was seen as the more mature one and Dan was the one needing taken care of, but when Dan needed to step up, he would.  
“But-”  
“No buts. Your earplugs are in the nightstand. Turn off your alarms and don't worry about us, okay? We'll play until she finally does get tired.” Dan wiped the tears from Phil's face and then offered him a hand to help him up from the kitchen floor.  
“Are you sure you'll be alright?” Phil asked, but he knew he wasn't going to pass up a free chance to get some sleep.  
“We'll be fine. I'll get up with her in the morning, too, as long as I can nap whenever you wake up,” Dan lead Phil to their bedroom and then wrapped him in a hug.  
“I love you,” Phil whispered, and if they stayed like that much longer, he would fall asleep standing.  
“I love you, too. Now, goodnight,” Dan kissed his forehead and then turned to go back to the living room where their daughter/herd of elephants was running in circles around the coffee table.  
**  
Phil woke the next morning feeling wonderfully refreshed around noon. His first instinct was to feel bad for Dan, but that was overshadowed by how amazing he felt after more than a full night of sleep. The house was a lot more quiet than usual, so Phil crept to Daisy's bedroom as silently as he could and found his husband and daughter fast asleep, Dan's legs uncovered and hanging off the end of her bed. Phil didn't dare try and shut her door for fear that the tiniest sound would wake her, so he made his way to the living room and took the opportunity to read a book.  
Daisy and Dan didn't wake for another hour, and Dan was surprisingly chipper when they came into the living room.  
“Papa!” Daisy sang and jumped on the couch next to Phil.  
“Good morning, my lovelies! How did you sleep?” he asked, wrapping his arm around Daisy who didn't stay still for long.  
“Daddy snores,” she said, and they both chuckled.  
“I slept okay. Is it really one o'clock?” Dan asked, looking over at the clock on the mantle.  
“Yeah. What time did she finally pass out?” Phil grimaced.  
“About 5, which means… she slept eight hours,” Dan's eyes widened. This was a big deal and they both knew it.  
“Wow. Okay, um, definitely no naps for her today, and tonight we try the tea again? Only this time, I actually read the package,” Phil said with a sheepish chuckle.  
“Yes, actually looking at what you're doing might help things, Phil,” Dan said with a grin, and then he sighed, “Oh God, can you imagine two nights in a row of- Nope. No, I don't want to jinx it so I'm not even going to say it. Breakfast?”   
It was a good day, a really good day. They went to the park and they finally had the energy to keep up with her, then they had Daisy's favorite supper of grilled cheeses and veggie crisps, and then a warm cup of Sleepy Time Tea before bath time. Half way through the Very Hungry Caterpillar, her eyes started to droop, and by the end, she was fast asleep.


End file.
